Computers on Focus - Online Security Guide

How to Remove Tox Ransomware and Save Your Files

Tox is a ransomware program designed to make money by locking your files and demanding payment in order to release them. Paying the ransom fee, however, is not a solution as the infection will remain on your computer.

Tox Ransomware Description

Essentially, Tox Ransomware is a platform that enables those who wish to become cyber criminals to develop custom ransomware tools with advanced evasion capabilities. The toolkit is accessed through the Tor network. It’s reported that in one week the platform recorded 1,000 users and more than 1,000 infections.

Once inside your system, the Tox Ransomware encrypts all your files adding .toxcrypt extension to each one of them. It will then display a message saying that in order to unlock your files, you must pay a ransom fee.

Paying the ransom, however, is only a temporary solution. The ransomware practically remains in your system and may block the access to your file any time, demanding money from you again.

In some cases, paying the ransom will not even result in providing a decryption code. The cyber criminals will simply collect the payment leaving your files blocked.

How Does Tox Ransomware Enter Your PC?

The would-be cyber criminals who wish to use the Tox Ransomware platform for their own purposes will have to come up with their own ways of distributing the infection.

Therefore, Tox Ransomware may enter your system in various ways:

Infected email attachments

Peer-to-peer file-sharing

Corrupted web pages

Software bundling

In order to stay protected, you must back up your files and have a reliable anti-malware tool installed at all times.

How to Remove Tox Ransomware

As explained above, paying the ransom will not help decrypting your files. You must remove the ransomware via a powerful and trustworthy anti-malware tool which will detect the threat and remove it without harming your files. The tool will also continue to protect your system from future threats.